


What was I supposed to do?

by Vrika



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Assistant District Attorney, Bars and Pubs, F/F, F/M, Kissing, M/M, Motorcycles, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Polyfidelity, Professors, Robots, University, What if your queer poly self met your OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-10-22 11:06:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10695726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vrika/pseuds/Vrika
Summary: @yatima and I were talking about seeing the actual people who play Steve, Bucky and Peggy in a bar, in an AU where they are university professors, and we realize that Steve, Peggy and Bucky are ALL TOGETHER, and it just destroys our queer, poly hearts. (Because while _I_ might be awesome enough to deserve a Peggy and a Bucky, I'm no Steve Rogers.)Its not quite what she was saying, so maybe I'll write another one.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yatima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yatima/gifts).



Professor Rogers comes into the local University bar, my bar, his arm around his buddy, Dr. JB Barnes. I liked them both. They were polite to the waitstaff, and tipped well when they were hanging out, and I liked hearing Dr. JB go on about robots, engineering problems he was having with pushing Stark's latest creation for more general use. It reminded me that I should put a bug in Tony's ear the next time he was in getting a drink about re-purposing the Europa robot to be used for Pacific Ocean Garbage Gyre cleanup.

Rogers' wife, Assistant District Attorney Margaret "Peggy" Carter was already at the bar, sipping her very olive-y martini. I knew she liked them because the olives took up room, she could sip it for a long time, and stay ahead and on top of her game when people around her were unsober. I'm sure we both hated that we had to use tricks like this, but when I glanced at her and her drink, she gave me a long slow smirk, I guessed, thinking the same thing, that we'd use whatever advantages we could.

Professor Rogers reaches a hand out to Carter, and their fingers entwine. She leans past him to drop a kiss on Dr. JB's cheek, as I notice she and Rogers were playing 'Thumb War" without looking.

Ok, you got me, the other reason I like them coming in as the two of them are fucking adorable. Carter is gorgeous, but that's not her best feature - she's whip smart, incredibly caring and fearless. Having her as an ADA had been good for our city. Prof. Rogers is tall, blond, a professor in Art and History with a hip to shoulder ratio that makes the folks who are attracted to beautiful specimens of manhood cry a little when they see him wearing tweed or khakis, but I just crave Dorito chips. And together? They are squad goals for the heteronormative.

Mulling their ridiculous good looking-ness, I'd already poured and delivered a double scotch, neat with a side of soda water for Dr. Barnes, and was pulling a beer for Prof. Rogers before either of them had a chance to say hello to me.

"You seriously are the best," said Dr. Barnes, leaning over to grab his drink, as I handed Prof. Rogers his beer.

"It's why you come back here, isn't it?" I grin at him, because forgive me, it's not like Dr. Barnes is any slouch himself, especially in those jeans. Can he actually WORK in them? But they do good things for his thighs, so I'm not complaining. He's bulkier than Rogers, but a few inches shorter, and unlike Rogers stodgy khaki and tweed, he tends to wear motorcycle leathers, steel toed work boots and jeans. (Yowza. I might have a type.) But I really like him for his gorgeous blue eyes - there's a darkness and a kindness there, and I like to think of the stories they may know.

He grins over his drink back at me, and turned to toast Rogers and Carter before heading to a table.

#

Carter had come in one afternoon, looking a little frazzled. "Your usual, ADA Carter?" I ask.

"Oh, I wish, my dear, but I have to head back into work tonight after dinner with the boys," she said, the accent of her childhood spent in England coming out, as it often did when she was tired.

"Ah, so Vodka Tonic, extra special?" I say - that's our code for soda water with a lime, so people around her think she's drinking, but she's just hydrating. Another one of those dumb tricks, but I taught her that one after she told me about the extra olives in the extra dry, extra dirty martinis she normally drank.

"Yes, darling, that sounds splendid," she responds. "I haven't told you recently how much I appreciate how well you take care of us around here."

I shrug, "You don't make it hard, Ms. Carter. Its my pleasure."

She smiled, "Well, I do want you to know its appreciated, sweets."

"Right back 'atcha, ADA Carter. Now, go eat your dinner, and afterwards, go put some bad guys in jail," I say, cleaning the bartop to avoid showing any reaction to her calling me darling or sweets. Surely its just English slang? She's tired. That's all it is.

Her grin is wry, but her eyes are sparkling at me. "When I win this one, you'll have to let me buy you a drink, darling."

What's with the darling again?? We're both tired. That's what it is. Out loud, "What, 'cause those of us who stay behind to take care of you fighters are important too?" I try to laugh it off, because even if she's married, I am not dead.

"Yes." she responds, looking right at me, not letting her gaze drop until I drop mine, flushing a little, suddenly embarrassed by how much it means that she sees me, and likes me too.

#

Stark comes in, followed by a robot. "Hey, Tony, what'd I tell you about bringing objects that could explode into my bar?" I yell.

"Not to do it?" he said, "But come on, you 'll like this one, I designed it to help ... "

"No, Tony. Get that possibly exploding 'bot OUT of here," I state, very firmly, at him.

I hear the robot's tiny little beeps as it rolls around in circles. How does it manage to sound sad that I wont allow it to stay? Tony knows what happened the last time: his robot blew up in one of the bathrooms, leaving me down a toilet for a week. I did however leave both bathrooms as unisex when we remodeled.

"But I got the 'splodey part fixed. This will clean the bathrooms and take itself out for a wash afterwards," he said, very excitedly, waving his arms around.

Dr. JB Barnes walks in the front door, looks at us both, and says, calmly, "Tony, that robot is starting to smoke. I believe it may catch on fire."

"OUT! OUT damned robot!" I yell. It continues to beep sadly as it rolls out, and a couple of long seconds later, I hear a 'pooft' noise. I look out of the front door, leaning on Barnes, to see flames coming out of the top of the robot while Tony runs around. He grunts at my weight on him. "Sorry," I mutter.

He looks up at me, "Nah, the weight's nice, gorgeous. I came in to see ya, but ..." and he gestures.

I lean over, keeping my weight on his shoulders, to grab one of the many extinguishers I have under the coat hangers and bench by the front door, and hand it to Dr. Barnes, who salutes me as he jogs out to rescue his student.

(Or maybe the robot, it's hard to tell.)

(There's an awful lot of muscle under that shirt, I think, shaking my head.)

#

A few weeks later, I'm helping the caterers at one of those occasional fundraisers that involve a lot of people with a lot of money who had gone to the school, and also all the professors who appreciated their regular paychecks. Prof. Rogers came by to grab a couple of beers for him and JB, and his smile when seeing me behind the bar almost made my evening, "Hey! This is a surprise! I didn't know you worked these things, too,"

"Aww, yea, normally I don't - but the caterer was short bartenders, and we're old friends," I reply, smiling back at him.

"Well, keep the money supplied with the good stuff, will ya? JB could really use some extra help in the Engineering department."

"Don't the patents on whatever latest wacky thing that Stark and he developed bring in enough?" I laughed.

Prof. Rogers looked at me, showing some surprise, "You keep up on Barnes' latest patents? But no, not quite enough, Barnes has an idea that's going to need a bit more research capital."

I pour a red wine for another professor and hand it to her, smiling at her grateful look, "Yes, even tho Tony exploded one in my bar, I really like robots. Professor Barnes is doing some really interesting work!" I say, excitedly, waving my hands around a little like Tony. "I'm curious about this new project! Was it the plastic eating robots to clean the ocean, or maybe something similar to BayMax, helping out in warzones instead of hospitals, or something else amazing?" I say.

I look back at Prof. Rogers, who's got one eyebrow raised at me, looking astounded, even a little taken aback at my interest and excitement. I flush with an instant anger, and drop my eyes. Why couldn't a bar owner be interested in robots, or engineering? I couldn't afford to go to this school, but it wasn't like running a business didn't take a certain amount of brains, and I liked to read, plus they were both actually really good patrons of my bar, and neither of them were shy about talking to me when I asked questions.

It was frankly old and super boring that folks looked at me funny when I said stuff that seemed too smart for what I did. Not wanting Rogers to see my anger, I walked over to the other side of the bar and started serving other people. I was particularly annoyed at him because he was married to Peggy Carter, for fuck's sake, and if there ever was a package that looked unlike the steel and sheer will underneath, I hadn't met her. I did catch out of the corner of my eye that he at least had the grace to look embarrassed.

As he turned to hand Dr. Barnes a beer, I saw them clink the beers together with their left hands while their right hands reached casually entwine to play 'Thumb War' as well. Where they were, no one should have noticed it, but because I was mad at Rogers, and I was being hyperaware of him, I was looking, and I did see, and it hit me: Dr. JB Barnes, Professor Rogers and ADA Carter were all together. Like with each other as a triad together. At the very least Rogers was with both of the other two. And they played 'Thumb War' without looking at their hands. Like how was that even fair that they were all so stupidly cute?

I wracked my brains to see if I noticed Barnes doing that to Carter, but they were really careful, and I hadn't. I also knew at a gut level that Rogers wasn't cheating on Carter to be with Barnes. Don't tell me how, other than I knew that Rogers couldn't lie his way out of a paper sack, and that I'd seen enough of Barnes interacting with Carter to know that they couldn't, wouldn't lie to each other.

I was still annoyed at Rogers, but at the same time: flat out, completely jealous. Talk about squad goals, this was the sort of thing my queer, polyamorous heart couldn't take. (We wont talk about how long its been since I was in any relationship that wasn't battery operated.)

I kept serving beer and wine to the attendees, heartbroken and annoyed at what I realized about the three of them, heartbroken and annoyed at Rogers for not being perfect. For the rest of the evening, I worked, my smile never reaching past my lips, my eyes never seeing anyone's face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (I insert the reader in a little more... CW: Mugging of OTC here, no other assault) 
> 
> (also, slightly earns its Mature rating. maybe?)

The event ran long, and still doing my friend a favor, I stayed late to help her clean up, while the rest of her staff went home. A lot of them were students, so we didn't want them to be out too too late.

It was probably 1:30 am when I finally stumbled out of the event venue, and started my walk home - I didn't live far off of campus and normally didn't mind walking, even tho this night had been the culmination of a long day.

I was so tired, I didn't realize that two people had come up next to me while I was walking. Normally, even on campus, where it's pretty safe and well lit, my situational awareness was broad, but these two had snuck up on me, pushed me and grabbed for my bag.

"Hey!" I screeched. "Leave that alone, I'll give you my wallet and cash, I don't have a laptop in there, I'm not a student," I yelled, tugging on the bag. Stupid, nothing in there couldn't be replaced, but sometimes the body tries to cash a check before the brain has time to stop it.

I threw up my arm to stop a punch aimed to my face, but the second guy had already kicked behind my knees so that I collapsed face forward on the ground, still clutching my bag, while both of them started kicking at me. I rolled up tighter and rolled hard into them, trying to get them to trip and fall over me, so I could get away. I was also pretty sure I was screaming, tho it was late enough, and I knew that spot on campus didn't have any residences, so wasn't really expecting anyone to be around.

I was groggy from landing on the ground, being kicked and then dizzy from rolling around, so trying to get back up wasn't really easy, but suddenly I felt one of the attackers being bodily lifted off of me and tossed aside, while the other got the fist end of a hard punch. I had managed in the mean time, to get kicked in the head, and the cut over my eye was bleeding badly enough that I couldn't really see who it was that had rescued me, but I heard the two running away.

"Hey man, I had 'em on the ropes," I said weakly, holding onto the park bench after using it to haul myself upright.

"Well, your face certainly shows that," said a voice I wasn't expecting to hear, and I blinked thru the blood to see Professor Rogers looking at me, "Actually, let me look at that, it looks worse now."

"Scalp wounds bleed, Rogers," I say, putting my hand up against my eye to staunch the bleeding and wince because of the gravel in my hands. "Fuck. I should have just let them take the damn backpack," I grumble, and then getting dizzy, I sit hard on the bench. "Seriously, that ground is hard," I whine a little.

"You know what, let me get you inside, and we can clean you up and take a look," he said, "Professor Barnes' place isn't far from here,"

and before I could say anything, he'd picked me up. Now, I'm not a light woman, and I'm certainly not as petite or slender as Ms. Carter, but Prof. Rogers held me like I weighed nothing. "Huh. You know, art history isn't really the sort of academic field one expects to find super buff, heterosexual men involved."

"Shhhhh, I'm not. Now, look, I need to concentrate on keeping you still," he said as we move swiftly towards the residences at the edge of campus. I knew Dr. Barnes had a loft above a garage where he liked to keep his personal car and motorcycle projects, and that's where Rogers was taking me.

I leaned my head into his chest. "Dont pass out on me now, I don't know if you have a head injury yet," he said, "Stay awake, that's a good girl,"

I swear, "Fuck you, Rogers, I've never been anyone's good girl in my entire life," and realize, "Fuck, I'm getting blood all over your nice shirt you wore to the shindig tonite." Then realizing what he'd said earlier, "Wait, what do you mean you're not? Not super buff? or ..." realizing, of course, he's not actually heterosexual if he and Barnes were together.

"Well, if you are swearing at me, you aren't passing out from a concussion," he replies, a wry grin.

"Ugh, but your shirt, you asshole. It looked nice on you. Carter's gonna kill me. HEY, now put me down! I can fuckin' walk. And you high handed, self possessed shithead, did you think maybe I'd rather go home? HUH? did you think of that? Barnes' place is the EXACT opposite direction," I keep swearing.

He ignored me, tightening his grip in case I wriggled, but I just got hit in the head, I'm not an actual idiot.

By this point, we've gotten to Dr. Barnes' residence. "Let me text JB so he's not surprised when I burst in there with you all bloody," says Prof. Rogers.

"Given how accident prone Stark is, I bet Barnes has got a pretty good first aid setup in the garage, and we won't have to go bug him upstairs," and swear some more as he jogs my ribs placing me upright, my feet back on the ground while he texts. I lean against the door, "Fuck. now I got blood all over his front door, this is a mess, Rogers. I can't afford what the whiskey is going to cost me to make up for this."

"Stop it. There's no way JB's ever going to make you pay for getting blood on his door after _you_ got mugged on campus," he said, the certainty in his voice vaguely cheering me up.

"Oh yea? What about Carter when she sees what I've done to your shirt?" I mumble, still leaning against the door, heedless of the blood now. "She's the scarey one of you three."

He punches a code in the touchpad and one of the garage doors opens. Flipping on a light, he walks me over to the couch, which is thankfully made of leather, and then goes to search for the first aid kit. I just slump for a moment, taking stock. Breathing hurts but no gurgling, cut on my forehead, my jeans were torn from landing on the ground and my knees and hands were scraped and my arms and thighs hurt where they had been kicking me. It was going to hurt like a motherfucker in the morning for sure.

I felt the lights in the loft go on, and JB came down the stairs clad only in sweatpants, and dear gods, this was so unfair for him to look half as good as he did when he was half asleep. "Stevie, I got your text, you both down here?" and I tried to croak a hello but mostly just groaned.

"What the FUCK?" he whispered loudly, looking at my bloody and bruising face. "Hang on, doll, getting ice and the first aid kit from upstairs," as he turned and raced up the stairs, all signs of sleepiness gone.

"Srsly, what is it with you two and your old man sensibilities about women? Girl? DOLL?" I grumble as Rogers came back with a bowl of water and iodine, and proceeded to wash and clean out my face and hands and knees, while JB held an icepack wrapped in a towel against my face.

"You two seem to know a little bit about how to patch up wounds from fights," I murmur as I continue being overwhelmed by all the concerned masculinity in the form of 6'2, 230 lbs of muscle that was Professor Steven Rogers, and the 6', 195 lbs of professor James B Barnes.

They kept at it, until everything was cleaned out, covered in antibiotic ointment, and bandaged if it could be. "Yea, well, you haven’t heard the stories about me pulling this guy out of fights all the time when he was little." says Dr. Barnes, "I got very used to patching up scrapes, bruises."

"Shut up, JB," mutters Steve.

"Ugh, ugh, enough you two. The testosterone and mother henning will drown me if you keep it up," I finally croak, clutching a mug of water I'm gratefully sipping. "I can't picture Rogers ever little. You both just sprung up, godlike, like a straight girl's fantasy."

"Heh, see, Stevie, I told you she wasn’t into boys," said Dr. Barnes.

I glare at him, "Shut up, I'm totally into boys. And girls. And in between. Just not right after getting kicked in the head by probably drunk or hungry or in need of a fix muggers,"

Then it sunk in, "Wait, why would EITHER of you care if I were into boys at all?"

Rogers kicks Barnes in the calf and says, "Not now, the two of you, she's right that it’s a completely inappropriate time to talk about who's into whom."

"Sorry," Barnes mutters, rubbing his calf. "I"m just still angry that we don’t know who did this to our favorite and best bartender,"

I mumble, "Has someone told Carter where Rogers is, or should I be afraid for my life when she comes looking for you?" deciding to ignore whatever it was that was going on at the moment.

"She wasn't expecting me back tonite," says Rogers, "Tho I should email her what happened."

"Yea, do you want to call campus police?" asked Barnes to me.

"I'll file a report during the day, or maybe I can do it online. I didn’t see them, it was dark, I was dumb and they jumped me and I was on the ground pretty quickly,"

"Hey! you weren’t dumb, this wasn’t your fault," Rogers glared at me.

Being tired, the adrenaline finally fading, thinking about some of the painkillers I had at home, I mumbled, "You are adorable when you're all fired up with the injustice of the world, Rogers. But it’s super late, and I'm really tired. Maybe I should see if I can get a cab home. I mostly need to rest at this point anyway, and I'll check in on the campus infirmary tomorrow,"

JB came back with pillows and blankets, and said, "Right. No. You do need rest, but unless I know you've got someone at home that isn’t your cat, you aren’t going to be alone tonite."

"Ugh." I say, muttering into my hands, "How the fuck does Carter put up with you two fussbudgets,"

"Why do you think she works so late?" laughs Barnes. "Anyway, I'm awake now, so you can either sleep here if my working in the rest of the garage won’t bug you, or I can take you upstairs, and you can sleep on the bed, tho really, you'll still hear me and I think the couch is actually more comfortable, OR Stevie can borrow my car, take you home and stay on your couch tonite."

"I give up," I mumble, grabbing for the blanket. "I don’t actually have a couch he can sleep on, I'm only in a studio. Plus my cat won’t like him. Tho I'm sad I can't get to some of the good painkillers I've got. I bet all of this is gonna hurt like a son of a bitch tomorrow,"

"Don't tell Stevie, I'll see what I can do about the painkillers," said Barnes as Rogers, wearing a clean shirt, and holding a couple of mugs of coffee and another glass of water for me, comes back.

I drink the water down, close my eyes, and will myself to fall asleep. I _am_ actually safe with these two lugs, and the day's been ridiculous enough that I do sleep.

#

I wake up to some whispering nearby. It’s still dark, and all the lights are off except for one bright one highlighting the motorcycle work area. I don't open my eyes and keep my breathing even as I overhear Rogers whispering, "Come ON, JB, she's sleeping right there, it's rude. Plus she's going to find out about us,"

"Pretty sure she already knows, Stevie," whispered Barnes

"Well, yea, I do, but I doubt anyone else would have picked it up, you two are good at being closeted. Or more to the point, discreet." I say, stretching gently to see what hurts (everything). "And you two better just be smooching, 'cause I'm going to be super annoyed at not getting to see the show. Plus I'm sure I'm still mad at Rogers from much earlier. Don't think rescuing me from a beating is going to get me over that."

Barnes laughs at first, his voice slightly hoarse, which is far too irritatingly sexy, and then says, "Wait, why are you mad at him? What'd he do?" and Rogers swears under his breath.

"I was going to apologize!"

I hear Barnes smack him in the shoulder, "No, srsly, what'd you do? Was it when you picked up the beers at the party? I told you to not go sticking your foot in your mouth, Steve!" He sounded really irritated.

I sat up and said, "Look, one of you get me a painkiller, now, and more water, and then you can tell me what the fuck you are going on about before I really get irked and never serve you whiskey or beer again."

Barnes is up the stairs like a shot, "Be right back, Stevie, get the woman some more water."

"Yea, Stevie," I say, drawing it out. I can _feel_ his blush even tho the lights still aren’t on. "You heard Barnes, go get me some water."

While waiting for the boys to get back, I dig thru my bag to find my phone. I wanted to email my staff to see if someone could cover for me that night, I was probably going to need a day or two either super light or off entirely. I see a text from Carter that just said, "Heard what happened, make sure the boys take good care of you. xoxo, Peggy,"

"Huh," I think. She and I were going to need more than a drink after this for sure.

#

A few days go by, and I'm back working in the bar. The bruises are fading, and the scrapes are almost all healed, but I'm really not sure what to do with Rogers, Carter AND Barnes coming by to check up on me. Hell, even Stark comes by to make sure I'm ok. "How'd I get adopted by y'all," I ask, looking a little confused at his latest 'bot - a drinkmaker. "Also, you trying to put me out of a job, Stark? I can't have a robot behind the bar!"

"Oh yea, no, but I thought it might be helpful when it's really busy," he said. The robot started vibrating and smoke started pouring out of it. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and glared at him.

"OUT from behind the bar, you robot!" I yell, as it continues whirring and smoking, and listening for once, it rolls out from behind the bar. It’s in the middle of the floor when it finally just catches on fire and I spray it with the fire extinguisher.

"Tony. no. Take that hunk of metal back to your development bay, and don’t bring it back until it doesn’t halt and catch fire! Or at least bring me Dum-E." I rub my temples thinking about what my fire insurance is going to look like if that had caught on fire behind the bar near all the alcohol.

Stark pushes his sunglasses back onto his face, and mutters "Well, Barnes thought maybe you'd be able to hang out with us more often if you weren't working here all the time."

"Wait, why do you want to hang out with me more often?" I ask. “I mean, you guys come here for food and drinks all the time!"

"He meant at the workshop, he thought you might have been interested in helping on one of the new projects,"

"Well, duh, anyone would be," I said, "But _this_ is my business, and I kinda need to run it."

"But that's the thing! Not anyone actually is. YOU are. Come play with us, please?"

For all that he's a genius, he does do a good puppy dog look. "oh, all right," I sigh. "Let me know some good times, and I'll see about getting some help here to cover."

He bounced. "Good. Be fun to work with you," his grin making him look even younger.

"You too, Stark. Now get that hunk of metal out of my bar."

#

ADA Carter comes into the bar around 2 pm one afternoon. I was getting things set up for the evening crowd, and she burst in, saying, "Vodka Martini, dry, NO OLIVES,"

I laughed, "You won the case, congrats!" coming around to give her a hug.

She flings her arms around me, and buries her face into my neck. "I'm so glad I'm done for the moment. I feel like the rest of my life has been on hold while working on this, it’s just not sustainable. I miss EVERYONE."

I pat her back, saying, "Maybe you and the boys need to take a weekend away, someplace with a big tub, fireplace and good food?"

"That sounds amazing, actually. What a good idea." She paused, still holding onto me. "Come to think of it, should find a place we can all go," she murmurs.

I pull back from her, eyebrow raised "I think you are expecting that some conversations have happened that just haven't, Carter."

Her huffing sigh was deep and I jumped a little because it tickled. "Those idiots. Weren't they here last night? They were supposed to walk you home and talk with you."

I laughed, "That didn’t work out. JB and Stark were working on something and tried to set the lab on fire, and Rogers was over there helping them clean up. I was actually alone for once last night,"

After getting mugged, Rogers or Barnes had come by when the bar was closing to make sure I made it home. Stark offered to make me a robot that would walk me home, but I just said, "No, Tony! NO SKYNET, Tony." But the past few nights I'd been riding my motorcycle, so it wasn't as necessary for them to follow me around like a couple of rabid ducklings, and while I kind of missed their company, it was nice to just go home to the cat for once.

"Seriously tho, they haven’t tried to talk to you since the attack?" asked Carter.

"I haven’t really been in a place to talk to them about anything, tho I did let Steve apologize," I said, which was true. I'd gotten the idea that Barnes and Rogers were interested in more than just friendship with me, but not what the shape of it looked like.

She made a face, "Could have made him grovel more. He knows better,"

"He can't stop wanting something he can protect, huh?"

"I think he's actually incapable of helping himself. Barnes spent so much time doing it for him when they were younger, and he was so small and sick. He probably feels like he should get his turn now,"

"Yea, that's not going to change with me in your lives either,"

"So the idea of being 'in our lives' isn’t making you run off screaming," she pulls away from me, looking up into my eyes, her arms still around me. I have to admit, I really like it. A lot.

I laugh, "One, have you SEEN the three of you? Individually and together? I'm not an idiot. And, well, before I figured out Barnes and Rogers were also together, you and Rogers were like some modern perfect power couple. I mean, you STILL are, just not as a couple, right?"

 

She bit her lip, distracting me, but said, "No, Steve and James were together long before he and I met, tho he and I met when James ... wasn’t with us."

"There's more of a story there, I know," I said, quietly, "But I'll wait til Barnes is ready to tell me himself."

She looked relieved, "Thank you. But when he got back, he needed a lot of help, and I wasn’t going to ask Steve to choose between us, not when there was room for all of us."

I must have had some look on my face, thinking about that, and Carter... no, Peggy, punched me in the arm. "What are you thinking?"

My grin is slow and wicked, "Thinking how pretty the three of you must be together," I lick my lips.

She grins back, tossing her drink back. "Well, I would love for you to find out first hand."

I take her hand, dropping a kiss on the palm. "Tonite, we celebrate your victory, and then tomorrow, let's talk about going figuring that out?"

Her eyes got darker at the touch of my lips to her skin, "Yes."

I laugh, heading back behind the counter to mix up some more drinks while she texts everyone.

#

The impromptu party was ridiculous. Both Rogers and Barnes' graduate students, and other friends all arrive, and to celebrate, I tell everyone that the drinks are at cost, tho that the staff could still keep their tips. The nice thing about this town was even starving college students know better than to stiff their waitstaff, and we keep a good business running. By the end of the evening, we're pouring friends into taxis and shuttles to take them back to apartments and dorms.

Rogers is on a couch, with Carter in his lap, her feet in Barnes' lap, while he rubs them. Stark's girlfriend is visiting, and they are snuggled up on another couch. I've sent all the staff home earlier, but was stuffing all the tips into their wage envelopes, and cleaning up.

Stark says, "See, if you had a few robots, you could be hanging with us instead of doing dishes or whatever,"

"Shut up, Tony, I LIKE running my bar," I say, getting the last of the glasses into the dishwasher. I'd left a bucket of ice, pitcher of soda water, and bottles of whiskey and vodka out for the gang to pour as they wanted.

Carter waved her martini glass, and said, "You could come here, and let Barnes rub your feet. He's seriously amazing,"

"Well, Peggy, we ARE celebrating your victory, right? Makes more sense he should be rubbing YOUR feet,"

"He IS, my dear. That's why you should come here. Its AMAAAAZing," she slurs.

"Rogers, maybe time to take Carter home, huh?" I laugh.

"No, not without kisses," she demands. Pepper and Tony jump up and go drop kisses on her cheeks.

Pepper says, "Congrats again, Peggy. I'm taking this one home," as she pulls Stark along.

"byyyyyyeeee! BYEEEEE everyone," Stark slurs, "Pepper is taking me home. To bed." he whispers at me. "She loves me. I'm the luckiest. EVER."

I pat his cheek as they go by. "You are, Stark. Pepper is amazing. Take good care of her,"

'Oh. I AM. I gotta new 'bot, just for her," he whispers.

I lock up behind them, the only folks left being Rogers, Carter and Barnes on my couch, and they could stay the night there if they really wanted.

"Hey, lovelies, I've closed up. You are all welcome to stay on that uncomfy couch, or I can call a cab, let me know what you need,"

Peggy looks up at me, and holds her arms out. "Need you, gorgeous, come here and kiss me proper,"

"Aww, Peggy, no! We talked about that earlier," I protest. I mean, yes, I want to kiss those plush lips, but she's so beyond unsober. It wouldn't be right. "We're going to talk about that after you sober up,"

"Stevie. Stevie, she's not fun. It’s your fault, too, isn’t it." Peggy grumbles. "You, of all of us, the artist, didn't see her. And now she won’t be any fun until we all work very hard to make it up to her."

Barnes and Rogers look at me, their blue eyes looking up at me, Steve's bright blue pleading with me, and Barnes' just openly, wantonly looking. "Peggy, she's gorgeous. You know I've always thought that," Steve said.

"Yea, but gorgeous isn’t all she is, and you didn’t see that, Steve," said Barnes. Surprisingly, he and Steve were both still sober. "Peggy and I'll help you make him grovel, squirm, whatever it takes for you to forgive him, and him to learn his lesson." Steve blushes a delightful shade of pink.

"Well, how 'bout I come over for lunch tomorrow and we can all talk - none of us have to work, right?" I grin, thinking about Rogers squirming.

Barnes says, "I'll pick you up, and we can walk or ride over,"

Peggy's smile got big. "Oh goodie, THEN will you kiss me?"

 

I laughed, "Lady, when you are sober, all the kisses you want."

#

Steve half carried Peggy out, depositing her in the back of a car, and driving themselves home. Barnes waited for me while I locked up.

"You know, I CAN walk myself home." I say, looking up at him as he leaned against the wall.

"Sure you could, gorgeous, but Peggy would have my head on a platter if I allowed anything to happen to you tonite,"

"I'll take gorgeous over 'Doll'," I mutter, looking up at him. "You know," I say slyly. "YOU aren't drunk,"

"No," he says, his face brightening.

"And I'm not annoyed at you," I say, still sly, moving a little closer.

"No?" he responds, still leaning against the wall, but staying relaxed.

"No," I say, leaning up to kiss him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More adventures, more sexual content, mostly just playing with some scenes

He stays leaning against the wall, his right hand ghosting up to cup my face as he bent his head slightly to meet my lips, gently kissing, his left hand against the wall, flat, pushing against it. I like it, its not like he's desperate, but that he wants it, and wants to take his time. I put both of my hands flat against his chest, keeping him against the wall, but anchoring me along his body as we stay connected by our kisses. His lips stay gentle, but his breathing was erratic. "You ok, Barnes?"

His eyes opened, and he leaned his forehead against mine, "Still can't believe how lucky I am." He leaned down to brush his lips against mine, "I want," and he stops.

"Hey, James?" I say, using his first name for the first time, "You know, it's ok to want nice things to be done to and for you, and for you to accept that people care for, love you, you know that, right?"

Both his hands go back against the wall, like he's afraid still to touch me, "Yea, gorgeous, it might just take the rest of me a little while to understand that about you."

I kept my hands splayed on his chest. "You ok with it just being kissing for now?" as I lean up and kiss him gently once again.

"Oh, yea, gorgeous, more than ok," he said, taking one of my hands in his, and pushing gently off the wall and tucking my arm under his to walk me home.

"Talk to me?" I ask him, as we stroll along to my apartment.

"Sometimes, its hard to believe how fortunate I am, y'know?" he started, "First with even coming back, and then with Peggy being open to sharing Stevie, tho I'd have been happy just to be back in his life however he wanted me."

I raised his hand to my lips, pressing, "Better this way, right? Everything above board, honest with each other, everyone getting what they need?"

"Oh, yea, gorgeous, that's what's so hard to believe, that Steve wanted me, after I came back, and that Peggy would look twice at me."

"She's amazing," I sigh, and he laughs.

"Right? Why would amazing want me?" he said, trying to laugh it off.

"Probably the same reason I want you," I say, being direct. "Whatever did happen, the person I know now is a good person. You aren't just drop dead sexy in body, but kind, generous, caring and wicked smart. I've felt so fortunate to get to spend time with you, these past months since you arrived, and the past few weeks, even tho the cause wasn't a lot of fun. Plus, I think its obvious you like me, and I could ask the same - why would handsome, brilliant, genius Professor JB Barnes look twice at just a bartender?"

He stops, stopping me from moving forward, "You know I don't see you like that."

"I do, James. Otherwise you wouldn't get a single kiss. I know my worth."

He takes my face with both hands and kisses me, far less gently than before, "Gods, gorgeous, I feel guilty for being so greedy."

"Nope," I reply, "Guilt not allowed. We both get to be greedy." wrapping my arms around his neck and continuing to kiss him back.

#

The next morning, JB and I arrived at Carter and Roger's - we both rode our motorcycles over, since I wasn't riding on the back of his, and he couldn't actually fold up to fit on the back of mine.

"How the gorgeous Margaret Carter doing?" I ask, seeing her lounging on a chaise in the open plan living area. She waved her really large glass of water with lime in it, and her eyes were covered with dark sunglasses.

"Aww, Peggy," I said, dropping to my knees next to her, kissing her cheek gently, "We could talk some other time when you are feeling better."

"Oh no, I'm just a little light sensitive," she said, "But I slept so well, and I'm so ready to talk with you," She reached up and motioned for me to sit with her. "Is this ok, darling?" She asked, as she wrapped herself around me, a limpet charge on a passing ship

I awkwardly petted her hair and as I started to say, "Well, I haven't actually had any breakfast yet, nor quite enough coffee," as a pastry was handed to me, and I heard James ask, "Gorgeous, you like just cream in your coffee, right?"

"I do!" I say, a little nervous. I like my coffee the way I like it, and its hard to have someone else make it. What if there's too little or too much cream?

Steve comes over and hands me the mug, strangely silent. Peggy says, "He's not allowed to say anything until we start talking seriously, darling. I'm worried he'll put his foot in his mouth again, and I don't want to waste any more time."

I peer at the coffee. Its perfect. I peer at James. "How do you know how I like my coffee?"

James grins, "Mostly from watching you drink it at the bar. But I guess if I _really_ told you, we'd have to swear you to secrecy,"

"It isn't like I'm not good at keeping a secret already, Barnes," I grump. Even if Tony and Pepper know, I have never said anything to them, nor anyone outside of the circle of friends. That relationship is their secret.

Coffee and pastry in hand, Peggy curled up around me, and with Steve and James sitting nearby, we all sort of stared at each other.

"Well, maybe it would help if I started with my background in non-traditional relationships?" I said, trying not to giggle a little. Normally I'd be a little terrified about walking into an established couple, or triad, but these weeks of just hanging with them all, individually and together made me know that whatever happened, we could all be adults about it, and I wouldn't lose their friendship.

Peggy said, "Given that this is the only non-traditional relationship I've actually been in, ducks, it would be nice to have someone who knew a little more!"

I stroked her hair. "Well, I think I've told you I'm bisexual, to be exact, I should say I'm queer because bisexual doesn't encompass my attraction to non-binary people. I also identify as kinky and polyamorous. I've had longer term relationships where my partner and I had other sexual or intimate partners, and one where three of us were together in a closed triad. It was good, but broke up because they wanted children, and I wasn't ready. I've had other relationships implode because people weren't being honest about what they wanted, or if what they wanted changed. I want any future ones to have some ways of checking in, where we practice telling each other things so when the hard stuff comes up, its not that hard."

Steve and James looked a little shocked at this. Peggy laughed. "The boys sometimes think that women are far more innocent. They forget we have the internet, or each other to talk with."

"Are you shocked by my being open, or how many partners I may have had, or .." I say, ready to be a little hurt. Peggy stroked my arms gently.

"Oh, no, gorgeous," said James, leaping off the couch and onto his knees in front of us. "Just... you are sort of a dream come true."

Steve, in an attempt to make up for previous stupidity, said, "Its just we don't have a lot of experience. James and I were in love since we were boys, and Peggy's the only other person I've ever been with."

I looked carefully at all three of them. Like I'd always thought, they were gorgeous individually and together. "You three are stable as a triad. Why a fourth?"

"Because I miss being with women," said Peggy. Everyone else raised their eyebrows. "To be honest, I do. But not enough to go for _any_ woman. My attraction to women is pretty narrow, and the boys would have spent ages teasing me for my dragging them to your bar so I could catch a glimpse of you, but after going a few times, they realized they really enjoyed not just going, but getting to know you too."

"Huh." was all I said. I mean, it made sense, if Peggy wanted to be with a woman, she'd want one that could handle the entirety of her relationships. "Was Steve and JB getting interested a bonus?" I asked. "Were you originally thinking of just you and me, Peggy?"

"Right up until James figured out he liked bartenders who could spin a wrench, and Steven. Wait. Steven, when did you figure out you like-liked her too?"

"When she got so angry with me for being an asshole, actually." he said, quietly.

##

Kissing Peggy was more amazing than my imagination had considered. Her lips were so velvety and plush, and she was softness over steel. We spent quite some time just exploring each other's lips. There wasnt a war, we actually had all the time in the world to learn each other, and now that she and I were clear that this wasn't a one time thing, that we both wanted to work towards something longer term. But for now, it was lots of talking and checking in, and plenty of kissing to make up for all the talking.

Speaking of kissing, back to those lips. I'm certain I'm making some embarrassing noises, but Peggy's hands are in my hair, and she's kissing me more and more fiercely, her tongue slipping inbetween my lips and I'm here for this. I'm pretty sure that I haven't made this much noise, been this needy in ages.

"Gods, Peggy," I sigh into her mouth, "You're so gorgeous, it makes me completely stupid."

I hear Bucky's growly voice talking low, dark, dirty to Steve. Steve was on the floor, in front of the couch, between James' legs, his arms behind him, unable to move, to touch anyone, while Bucky was nibbling on his neck and ears, "See them both, Stevie? See how Peggy's wringing such amazing noises out of her? Arent you just so lucky that Peggy is even letting you watch? She's gonna take that beautiful creature apart, and you are going to sit here, and watch, and not touch. You dont get to touch anyone, or yourself. Just gotta watch til you are so wrecked, you'll do anything for any of us." He pauses, and I glance at them, Bucky's eyes were dark, his teeth in the joint between Steve's neck and shoulder, dragging even more embarrassing noises out of Steve.

"You take good care of Peggy last night, Stevie? She was so drunk when you were leaving, but I'm sure she still wanted you."

"Oh James," Peggy's breathless voice passes by my ears, tickling and driving me a little crosseyed, "Of course I wanted him, that gorgeous hunk of idiot."

I moaned a little at this. You know, the vision in my head about them all was not nearly as good as this, the reality of them all. I untangle myself from Peggy and stalk over to where James and Steve are sitting. Straddling Steve's legs, leaning over him, barely letting my body touch him, I grab James' face, and shut his growly mouth with mine. "Fuck, James, its not Steve that's going to be wrecked wanting y'all." I murmur against his lips, while he shuts up and enthusiastically returns the kiss.

We both hear Steve's whimpers, and I laugh a little against James mouth. We both look down, and Steve is trapped between our bodies, his face almost into my belly, but his hands are still behind him, and he's holding his wrists so tightly, I see white around the edges of his fingers.

"Such a good boy, Steve," I say, and his whimper turns into a groan, "Please," he whispers. "Oh, you arent nearly wrecked enough, handsome boy," I growl at him, going back to kissing James until he was breathless too.

James stops me and says, "Gorgeous, I think Peggy needs more attention," just as I hear her say, "Darlin', come back here, I'm getting cold," as I catch some of Steve's whimpers.

"Should I forgive him, Peggy?" I ask as I climb back into her lap, holding her face while kissing her lips, trailing along her cheek to her ears. Using my teeth here was good, Peggy made some good noises, and I stopped listening for the boys at all. She said, "after I get the chance to have my way with you."

"With or without them watching?"

James said, "If I'm watching, don't tell me to keep my hands to myself,"

I said, "Tho maybe it would be good if we told Steve he couldn't touch?"

"Any objection to my making use of him, even if he cant touch himself or me?" asked James, a smirk on his face. Steve just moaned from his position at his feet, and Peggy smiled under my lips.

"I might need to watch that too, tho," I said.

Peggy decided we had spent too much time talking, and started to remove my clothes.

##

Steve was forgiven after we'd all teased him long enough, and I was fine with forgetting. Relationships take work, and I wanted it to work with all of them. I also wanted him - I did have some distracting moments thinking about him carrying me, and I wanted to see what that strength looked like in other positions.

I felt a little bad for him - James and I could be very open with our affection out in public, and no one noticed Peggy and I as anything other than 'good friends' when we held hands or hugged. But because he was married to Peggy and I was now somehow Peggy's 'best friend', and with university politics, and their careers, he and I had to be careful in public.

Needs must, I had shown him how to get into my apartment so that it looked more like he was heading to a garage or someplace else not nearby. So one afternoon, we were both there, and not wanting a nap, I was sitting in Steve's lap, kissing him.

"Stevie, darlin', we have an hour, right?"

"Yea, gorgeous, whatever you want,"

"But what if what I want is for you to take 10 minutes and do whatever you like with me?"

He paused and stared.

"I noticed that you spend a lot of your time with us all taking care of us. Everyone ends up topping you, Stevie. Is that how you want it all the time, or do you like occasionally switching?" I asked, continuing to kiss him.

"Its hard with James, especially after he came back - I don't ever want him to be in the position where he feels like he's not in control" Steve said, his breathing getting a little distracted.

"Mmmm," I respond, nuzzling his neck, my teeth nibbling on his ear lobe, making him squirmy but still able to talk. "What about Peggy?"

He pulled back, "Oh no, Doll, I couldn't do anything like that with Peggy," his eyes were all soft and there was utterly no doubt that he was madly in love with his wife.

"Even if she wanted it?"

He sat back. "Oh." obviously not having thought about it.

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I know what _I_ like sometimes, and its to be in control of what I want, but not how I get there."

"Like?"

"Like what if I told you that I wanted you to push me onto the bed, spread my legs and eat me out until I came all over your face?" I growled into his ear while continuing my assault on his ear and neck.

"I'm pretty certain I would be completely on board with doing that," Steve said back, his breathing very erratic.

"mMmm, and what if I said once I came, I wanted you to just put your cock in me, and to fuck me as hard, as fast as you wanted. Especially extra points if you can start while I'm still having the orgasm. If I need you to stop, or its too much, I'll tell you. But otherwise, Stevie, have at it."

He leaned into me, lips on mine, going from gentle to hungry as my words sank into his brain. He leaned down, and picked me up, like he did that night a long time ago, but I didn't struggle

It was a few steps to my bed, and he tipped me over on to it, crawling up my body as he followed to get my clothes off.

After he'd done what I'd asked / told him to do, "How'd you know?" he murmured, a large octopus-like creature, wrapped all around me.

"Mmm, its a bad habit, lover," I said, "I like topping tops, and bottoming to bottoms, but its still always how I really want it. I've just been alone for a while, and want to catch up on lost time for the things I want."

I shoved him, "Hour's up, babe. I gotta hop in the shower and head into work, and I think you might have office hours,"

He smiled against my skin, "I think I might have time to hold you up against the shower wall and get you off again, what do you think?"

"Carry me to the bathroom and find out, handsome," I say, reaching my arms up. Asking for stuff he wants should be rewarded, right?

####

I hadn't realized just how dangerous some of Peggy's work could be until I was coming over for dinner one day, and noticed a dark car parked outside of their brownstone. Curious, I start to walk over to it, only to feel James come up next to me, all coiled strength and menace. I refuse to let myself jump at his sneaky approach, tho I know he made just enough noise for me to hear him. Reaching behind me, I take his hand as he drops a kiss against my neck, "Ignore the car, gorgeous, Peggy knows its here, and its safe,"

"More information inside, Barnes?" I say back, subvocalizing so he could hear, but not moving my lips in case someone was watching.

"Yea, doll, I promise," he whispers, nibbling on my ear. I let myself squeal, turn and kiss him hard before racing him to the stairs, pretending for all the world like we're just playing.

I knew him well enough that calling me 'doll' was his way warning me to pay attention.

Once inside, I ask without moving my lips much again, "Safe to talk here?" He shook his head 'no', and dragged me up the stairs and pointed to a comfortable chair away from the windows. Taking a wand out of his bag, he walked the perimeter of the room, closing the shades on the windows and sweeping the wand around all the lamps, shelves, couches around the large main room.

"Rooms clear," he said, "I'll check downstairs in a bit. I'm sorry, gorgeous, I didn't think she'd jump right into another case so fast, nor that it would be a little more dangerous than the last one."

"Is that car out there guarding her, or watching for the other side?" I asked.

"Guarding, but being obvious about it on purpose," he said, looking at the curtained windows without actually seeing it.

I walk over to him, and wrapping my arms around him, kissed his cheek "Thanks for keeping me, us, safe, James."

He wrapped his arms around me, and huffed into my hair, still tense. I just kept stroking his arms and back, long firm strokes, grounding myself. "This ok, handsome?"

"If you can manage, I'd like to make sure the rest of their house is ok. Peggy should be home soon with Stevie. He went to meet her at work and drive back with her." he said, his forehead against mine.

"Do I get to hear a little more why Peggy's two boys seem to be doing the work of protecting her, when she's likely capable of getting FBI agents instead?"

He smiled long and low. "That's a story for when we have some uninterrupted time, gorgeous, but I do want you to know the whole story,"

Tipping my head back and kissing him again, "Go, be our hero. I'll demand extra kisses later."

"You'll have 'em, and more, gorgeous," he said, the smile lighting up his eyes as well as lips.

###

Later, after those extra kisses, a very nice dinner of chicken piccata and wine and berries for dessert, with JB and Stark's latest alarm system turned on, all of us were curled up in bed. Steve and Peggy were fast asleep, tired out from our second dessert, but James and I were curled up together at the other end of the bed, my sitting up while he had his head in my lap, letting me idly play with his long dark hair. "Will it bother them or you if we talk?"

"Nah," he mumbled, "They are out. And I don't have class tomorrow, so I can stay up a little later,"

I tug on his hair, firmly but gently, moving my fingers around until he's relaxed into a puddle. "Its fine if you don't want to talk now, but I'm still a little nervous. Should I worry? Do I need to do anything different?"

"Gorgeous, I'm not going to allow anything bad to happen to you." His arms around my waist squeezed me tightly, and I tugged a little harder on his hair. He growled, "Keep that up and we'll stop talking again,"

"No, I want to hear!" I say and stop pulling his hair.

"So Stevie and I grew up together. He was small and got sick a lot, but then puberty hit, he got on the right kinds of meds and he shot up into the ridiculous beast he is now,"

I poke him, "Don't want to hear about Steve. Want to hear about you,"

"But its a little tangled, right? I spent my childhood protecting him, and then when were were both 18, we joined the Army together. Both of us end up in the same unit, but I was scoring really well on sharpshooting, while he was all about tactics. We got lent out to this multinational taskforce that got sent in when things weren't going well. It wasn't too bad, we had partners from France, England, Germany, and some Middle Eastern countries I can't tell you the names of, but probably started with J or A. And there I spent all my time watching his back again."

"That where you and Steve picked up all the languages you know?" I knew both of them knew more than a little French, Arabic, Farsi, German and Italian.

He nodded against my thigh. I paused a little to wriggle into a more prone position, and tugged at him to come lay on my chest and shoulder instead. He crawled up my body, touching both gentle and rough, but I refused to be distracted. "You can't keep not telling me by distracting me with sex!" I grumbled.

"Well, you need to quit being way more interesting and attractive than telling you my sad story," he grumbled back, lips and teeth finding a sensitive spot.

"Then we should move this out of bed so that Steve and Peggy can sleep," I manage to moan into his ear.

His speed and grace shouldn't surprise me after these weeks, but it does when he rolls out of bed and scoops me up, muffling my squeak with his mouth. My legs wrap around his waist, as I wriggle a little to take advantage of knowing he wont drop me. "Careful, gorgeous," he mutters against my lips as I get a hand on what I want. I don't say anything but moan a little at how he feels in my hand. Bracing my thighs hard against his hips, I move my ass back to make a little room, and slide myself down onto his hardness, while he's still holding me. "Fuck." he says, his hips twitching hard as his hands held me against him.

"We're not done with that conversation, James." I say, breathless, while I clench and unclench internal muscles. "But you can put me up against a wall, on the couch or another bed as long as you don't wake Peggy,"

He growls against me again, hips twitching as he walks us both into the spare room.

####

Peggy comes to find us the next morning, "I'm sorry, ducks, but I need to borrow James this morning to head into work."

I reach out and take her hand, pulling her into the bed with us. JB grumbles. "Too early," and pulls the sheets over his head.

"I love grumpy cat James in the morning," I said. "Its so funny he hates it so much."

"Try not to wrinkle the suit too badly, darling," said Peggy as she dropped lipstick kisses all over my face as I slid my hands up her legs and under her skirt, taking care not to wrinkle the cloth as I got my fingers where I wanted them.

"Got time for a little fun before taking James?" I asked, fingers busy even before she answered.

"Oh, yes, why'd you think I didn't put on any underwear yet?" she smiled against my lips as i groaned to find out how wet she was.

####

A few more weeks later, this case closed as well, successfully for our dear ADA, and she decided to take on my suggestion from the last victory. The four of us were heading up into the mountains for a long weekend getaway.

Three motorcycles, four people, made for fun - we all took turns carrying Carter - she knew how to ride, but had decided she wanted us to take care of her instead. I don't know about the boys, but I loved it, I loved having her arms wrapped around me from behind, her legs against mine. I loved patting her leatherclad thigh as we carved the turns. Barnes and I'd convinced Steve to take something a little sportier than his usual big Harley, and the two of them were on upright bmw boxers, carrying gear and with comfy back seats for a passenger. I had my usual ridiculous sportbike which forced Peggy to hold on very tightly, and I was ok with that.

We were heading to a quiet cabin in the woods, and planned on spending the weekend sleeping, cooking and enjoying the outdoors and each other.

##

I'm pretty certain getting into a shoot out and blowing up their friend Fury's cabin in the woods was _not_ part of having a quiet weekend away.

"Well, I feel particularly useless," I said, still stunned at watching the three of them take care of the group of men in black who had swarmed the house with little warning. At least our motorcycles and gear were still safe, as they were parked in a small shed a short distance from the house itself.

Peggy threw her arms around me, "Darling, I'm so so so sorry," while Steve and James stood guard. "Fury and his people are coming, but it safer to stay here where we have our gear even if the house itself is flattened.

James said, "Well, there's still a bathroom available."

"Small pleasures," I mutter, still a little shakey against Peggy. "Girl, where the fuck did you learn that?"

Steve laughed, "Who do you think taught me and James how to fight?"

"Peggy, my love, you've been holding out on me," as her hands kept petting me all over. "For what its worth, _I_ am fine. How about the three of you?"

"Lets get to the shed, and we'll have Steve and James take turns doing recon while we handle any first aid we need," said Peggy, not answering my question.

James said, "Get in your motorcycle gear. Its tough and we might have to leave quickly,"

I reached out to him, his eyes were so grey, his tone so flat, it scared me a little. I mean, a little more than already being scared about being shot at, having the house I was in blow up around me, and seeing a bunch of bleeding dead people who were once trying to make me a bleeding dead person.

"James, can you take care of Gorgeous, I want to make sure Steve and the perimeter are safe," said Peggy, taking my hands, and putting them on James' chest, before he or I could protest. I had no idea what to do, but blindly patted him, confirming that there were no holes in his gear. He kept looking over my head until my hands reached his shoulders and touched his neck, and like a shot, one large hand stopped mine frantic fluttering ones, and he looked down at me, eyes still icy and cold. I gasped as his hands crushed my fingers, and cried out a little as I couldnt get away from his grip. The cry seemed to get thru to him, and he stopped, letting go of my fingers, and finally looked at me. I felt the shock ripple thru his body, and saw his cold, icy demeanor clear, as he folded himself around me, lips in my hair, arms tight around me.

"Baby, I told you, I told you, I would never let anything happen to you," he said in my hair, his hands stroking my arms, up and down my back. I couldn't look up at him, too scared to let him see how pathetic I was, certain that none of them would want anything to do with me after that weekend. I was a liability. I had no skills for this sort of thing.

His hands found my face and tipped it up, even tho I refused to look into his eyes, he couldn't miss the tears. Gently kissing them away, "Its ok, baby, I've got you. Steve and Peggy and I all got you, nothing is gonna happen to you." but I couldn't stop crying. What if something HAD happened to one of them? "Come on, honey, Peggy is going to be really angry at me if I don't get you to tell me what's wrong,"

I shook my head 'no', refusing to speak, and just holding onto him. "All right, sweetheart, its ok, I'll just hold you, ok?" and felt him chuckle a little at my holding onto him tighter, like he was thinking of moving away and I wasn't having any of it. "That's my girl," he said, still against my hair. Normally I'd have some smart comment, but I was too busy panicing and crying.

I felt a blanket getting wrapped around us both, and saw Steve's bright blue eyes filled with concern. He stroked my hair, but didnt say anything, he and Barnes doing that thing they do where they dont say a word but they both have an entire conversation with their eyebrows.

"Gods, you two are such jerks," I mutter finally, pulling the blanket around me tighter.

"Yea, Peggy tells us that all the time, gorgeous, but what makes you say that right now?"

"That thing, where you have entire conversations without saying a word, just LOOKING at each other. Jerks."

"Well, when we've all been together for 20 plus years, I bet you will be able to do it too," said James, holding me tighter, as if he didn't want to think about me not being around 20 years from now.

I didn't either, but maybe that was the best idea. I mean, I was just going to slow them down if this stuff happened again.

Peggy's voice broke thru my conversation with myself, "Darling, stop it. Your brain may be telling you that you are a liability, or that you cant be with us because you'll slow us down, or some other self sacrificing thing, let me tell you a rule we have - You cannot make any big decisions right after a firefight. In fact, not for at least 48 or 72 hours after."

"What? 72 hours? That's way too long!" I cried.

"That's the spirited girlfriend I was looking for," said Peggy, leaning over and dropping kisses on both my and James' foreheads. "We're ok for the moment, Fury has his remote eyes on the local area, and Stark has all local satellites keeping electronic eyes out for us, there are no other humans within 30 miles of here, tho apparently a couple of bears."

Her voice became more businesslike again, "Now, if you are not shaking so much, I could use help getting some space ready for us to sleep."

I flung my arms around James again, "Thank you again, beloved, for keeping me safe." I said, as I also grabbed Peggy and motioned Steve as well. "I think a group hug is super necessary at the moment,"

Everyone, in spite of being filthy and smelling like gunpowder, agreed.

=======================

Peggy and I were curled up together in bed. Steve and James were both in finals week, so we didn't expect to see either of them home soon.

"Peggy, I met with Maria Hill, like you suggested," I said, stroking her hair.

"Yes, darling?" she said, not furthering the conversation, but waiting..

"Apparently, there's a boot camp for folks like me, who arent military, or combatants, but are with, or around people who are. She said there's a six week class starting in a week. I can arrange things with the bar, tho it might be nice to know you would come visit..."

Peggy started kissing me, first gently and then more like she was afraid of losing me.

"Peggy, Peggy, its ok. I'm not going to leave you because watching you kill people was scarey as hell." I say in between her kisses. "I mean, I will probably need therapy forever at how god-damn sexy you all are being competent."

"Sweetheart, I was so afraid." she whispered.

"I know, you put up a good front in front of the boys. They were super worried after the trip to the woods, werent they?" I said, kissing her back. "Peggy, I love you. I love you so much that I'm willing to learn what I need to stay safe, to be with you, with Steve, with James. I think you're stuck with me, Pegs. As long as you want me."

She sighed against me, "Oh, oh, good." as I proceeded to prove to her how much I wanted her.


End file.
